Day 3: Wild Rice

The day started with a Class 1 rapids section which you can see marked as Stumpghes Rapids on the map below.

I was eyeing this general areas as a spot to collect some drinking water. The running water is less turbid and therefore tastes better even after filtered. But I kinda just paddled right past it almost as soon as it began. I could see the rocks but the water level was high enough that it never got that interesting.

The next thing I knew the river got back to the 0.1 mph current I had become accustomed to…

The day started pretty leisurely. Even though I was running on 4 hours of sleep I was able to keep my ~2 mph pace racking up 10 river miles by noon.

Around then I pulled to shore and walked a short distance to a service road. I was able to get my first cell service of the trip. And I even met a couple different locals who were passing through. Shout out to Ben and Luke! Ben actually offered me a place to stay if I needed it. And Luke, who was RV camping just down the road was also very accommodating. Good people.

After around an hour on shore I wanted to make use of the second half of the day to push through what appears to be the last major section of serious vegetation.

I should’ve ate a big lunch…

After a couple hours I was not quite to the serious vegetation yet, and my lack of energy was started to show. In the distance I saw a pine ridge that I imagined would be the “Pine Point” canoe site. I resolved to call it an early day.

But the access to the ridge never materialized. I missed it.

This section of the River near Rice Lake is basically a floating corn maze. I imagine it’s called Rice Lake because of the unlimited wild rice that dominates this area.

The consequence of missing my exit was that I was now ~3pm heading into a 7 mile section that’s marked “may be impassable at times”…

At some point I got through a similar blockage that I faced on day one. I did have to get in the water but I was through it in a few minutes. And I thought to myself “okay that wasn’t bad at all.”

But then another blockage, was followed by another. With each blockage 10 or so minutes went by and I was expending a ton of energy.

The river kept going on and on. My phone was near dead. And the sun was getting lower and lower.

These blockages by the way, were one of many. And it wasn’t always clear which was the blockage I needed to cross.

The Upper Mississippi meanders often. Water, although it always flows downhill, doesn’t flow in a straight line. The outside bend moves faster than the inside bend. This causes sediment to collect on the inside of the bend. Water, moving faster, eventually breaks through the outside bend and cuts through to reform the river. At least that’s what I learned in my hydrology class a decade ago.

In the wetland covered in floating wild rice this meant there were literal short cuts and dead ends!

The stress was building.

By around 7pm, 4 hours into this endurance challenge I was thinking that spending the night in this wetland was a real possibility. I immediately regretted not having emergency communications, just in case.

This is your inspiration to carry a marine radio or inreach device on your kayak adventures. I honestly don’t even know how they would rescue a person out there using anything but a helicopter.

I didn’t know it, but the last blockage was the toughest. The other blockages had some semblance of soil that would hold maybe 1/4 to 1/2 my body weight. This gave me a mass to kick against for leverage in the water to pull and push my kayak over the vegetation.

This last blockage was a wild rice soup. In the water it was like bicycle kicking to stay afloat in a bowl of spaghetti.

Within a couple minutes I felt my legs cramping up from the extra resistance. That was the exact moment where it became serious. I couldn’t move my boat, but I needed to get back into my boat before I became too tired to do either.

A few minutes later the obstruction unlocks for me and within only a few minutes I see a glorious campsite in front of me just in time for sunset.